{"id":240904,"date":"2026-09-20T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T18:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=240904"},"modified":"2026-09-18T13:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T23:40:16","slug":"hawaii-no-2-lowest-student-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/09\/20\/hawaii-no-2-lowest-student-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawaiʻi ranks No. 2 in the nation for lowest student debt"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

\"3<\/p>\n

Hawaiʻi<\/span> borrowers carry less student debt than those in nearly every other state, earning the state the nation’s second-lowest student debt ranking according to a September 2026 WalletHub report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The personal finance company compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia using 12 measures. They included average student loan balances, the share of students with debt and the percentage of loans that are past due or in default.<\/p>\n

Hawaiʻi<\/span> ranked No. 50 overall. Only No. 51 Utah had a lower student debt burden. California, Washington and New Mexico rounded out the five states with the least student debt.<\/p>\n

“Our 10 campuses give local students access to high-quality educational opportunities at an affordable cost,” said 糖心视频<\/abbr> President Wendy Hensel. “Through affordable resident tuition, need-based financial aid and pathways across our statewide system, we are working to help students earn a degree without being weighed down by debt.”<\/p>\n

Graduating debt-free<\/h2>\n

At 糖心视频<\/abbr>, 80% of first-time undergraduates across 10 campuses graduated debt-free during the 2024–25 academic year. That included 65% of graduates from 糖心视频<\/abbr>’s four-year campuses and 90% from community colleges.<\/p>\n

Mississippi had the nation’s highest student debt burden, followed by Delaware, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and West Virginia.<\/p>\n

Outstanding student loan balances exceeded $1.72 trillion<\/a> in the second quarter of 2026, according to the Department of Education. That amounts to more than $40,000 per borrower across 42.6 million Americans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hawaiʻi<\/span> ranks among the states with the lowest student debt, according to WalletHub.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[61,62,63,64,65,71,14,9,60,947,59,66],"class_list":["post-240904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-hawaii-community-college","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-kauai-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","tag-maui-college","tag-uh-system","tag-uh-west-oahu","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t